Wells Fargo outbid Bank of America, Capital One and TD Bank and reached an agreement to buy a portfolio of ING Real Estate Finance’s 29 U.S loans with a total outstanding balance of $1.6 billion.
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Jacksonville, Florida-based EverBank has inked a 5,118 square feet sublease at its first New York location at 780 Third Avenue in Midtown East, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The sublease from Valley National Bank is for part of the 16th floor, which was already built out and designed for the needs of a bank, making for a perfect match.

“We acted immediately when we found out that Valley National was offering space at this location,” said CBRE’s Arkady Smolyansky, who represented EverBank with Gerry Miovski and Oliver Barakat, who works out of CBRE’s Florida offices. “The space at 780 Third Avenue was already built and furnished, allowing us to get EverBank a great space quickly and with minimum up-front capital expenses. It made a lot of sense.”
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Forest City Ratner Companies today confirmed what has long been understood in New York real estate circles: MaryAnne Gilmartin will succeed Bruce Ratner as president and chief executive officer of the development company.

Mr. Ratner, 68, will serve as the executive chairman of FCRC, stepping aside so that Ms. Gilmartin, executive vice president of commercial and residential development, can take over.

“I’m exhilarated by the notion of being able to partner with Bruce going forward, but I know business,” Ms. Gilmartin told The Commercial Observer in a telephone interview. “I am a developer at heart so Bruce and I are like-minded in terms of the importance of civic building and community and how we create great places.”
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Though not a traditional owner-operator, TIAA-CREF has begun to draw the attention of the real estate industry in recent months for a bevy of deals, including its acquisition of a stake in the Frank Gehry-designed building at 8 Spruce Street and a joint venture with Norges Bank Investment Management.

The asset management firm’s steady persistence in the real estate market during the downturn has led to a realization of gains, and recent deals could lead to the redeployment of capital in key markets going forward, said analysts familiar with the firm’s strategy going into 2013.

“TIAA is one of the investors that was pretty active in the depths of the market in 2009 and 2010, and some of those investments have turned into significant home runs,” said Dan Fasulo, managing director and head of research at Real Capital Analytics.
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